Pupils Use Weather Station On School Grounds As Part Of Climatology Main Lesson

March 28 2023

From our weather station in the School’s grounds, Class 10 pupils collect real weather data on temperature and rainfall as part of Climatology Main Lesson.

The Main Lesson in Climatology introduces pupils to the physical processes that contribute to atmospheric phenomena, and the human activities that are affected by them.

Pupils gently handle a piece of ‘fulgurite’ or ‘fossilized lightning’ as part of the ‘lightning’ section of the Climatology Main Lesson. At the start of the Main Lesson we answer some of the more fundamental questions in climatology, such as: “Why does it rain?” “In winter, why is Moscow colder than Edinburgh?” and “What is global warming?”

An attempt is made to raise awareness of the ways in which society contributes to atmospheric change, and what might be done to minimise it.

Later in the Main Lesson, pupils are able to apply some of their new knowledge by exploring how people and plants are adapted to different climatic zones.

From our modestly equipped weather station in the School’s grounds, we are also able to collect real weather data on temperature and rainfall (with the pupils taking it in turns to monitor the instruments).

The data is transformed into graphs which might demonstrate a change in average temperature (but not so much a noticeable pattern in rainfall) though the course of the Main lesson. Hopefully, after four weeks, the pupils will be able to suggest explanations for the data they have collected and processed.

While traditional schooling pairs lecturing with textbook references and worksheets, Waldorf pupils process and record lessons in notes and illustrations on large, blank pages of high-quality paper. The completed book is a culmination of the pupil’s learning from the subject block, encouraging both intention and creativity in its personal authorship.